#Coded Units

[atompalace-official]

[stone-cold-groove]

United States Postage stamp. It All Depends on Zip Code 10¢ - 1974.

[reasonsforhope]

Hey, I'll fucking take it. Cheers to avoiding rampant public safety disasters and strobing-induced seizures!

--

"A brightly flashing “X” sign has been removed from the San Francisco headquarters of the company formerly known as Twitter just days after it was installed.

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection said Monday it received 24 complaints about the unpermitted structure over the weekend. Complaints included concerns about its structural safety and illumination."

-via AP, July 31, 2023

[theunholyvirginemilyprentiss]

The lesbian dress code strikes again.

You can’t sit with us, we wear grey on Law & Order Thursdays 💅

[dathomirdumpsterfire]

okay hear me out...

fan made visual novel where the reader is the new chancellor of the republic after sidious dies under mysterious circumstances. (*coughitwasyoucough*) all the various jedi and sith are alive. the clone wars continue. multiple endings, morality system, dating options. 🤓

(art credit: photomanip of imperial throne and maul from comics, cleaned up and spliced together with a ui.)

[front-facing-pokemon]

[coachbeards]

PETE BERZATTO and SYDNEY ADAMU ↳ the bear season three trailer

[lindentea]

my polycules keep being really sweet and helpful to me and i don't feel like i deserve it and uhhhhhh Blitz really is just becoming a self-insert character for me, huh?

[tennessoui]

this has been done i know this has been done im sure this has been done but currently obsessed with the brainworm of captain of the king's guard obi-wan kenobi and prince anakin in some fantasy medieval star wars setting of some sort where it's just game of thrones-y enough that when the royal family is overthrown, it's violent and bloody and obi-wan knows that anakin will absolutely be killed in the revolution so he takes him and he runs back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant that he left years and years ago, when he was just a boy himself.

and anakin is absolutely furious for multiple reasons--mostly he thinks they should have stayed and fought! that they fled like cowards from his homeland is a shame that he can hardly bear. so he's angry at obi-wan for basically kidnapping him and forcing him away from his kingdom when she needed him, and he's angry at the jedi order for accepting them into their ranks but only if they agree to pretend to be Jedi while they're at the Temple. and he's angry at the jedi council because obi-wan had to beg to be given aid and his proud captain of the guards should never have to beg for anything, and yet here he is, begging for help for anakin's sake!

anakin is probably like. nine, obi-wan is twenty-five, and they stay at the temple basically incognito for ten years with anakin 'training to be a padawan' (because he's so strong in the Force that obi-wan points out that it may be a good idea to give him all the lessons in anger management and force control even though he isn't really a padawan in case any of the material sinks in) and obi-wan as a worker in the temple hangar bay.

then the clone wars break out and obi-wan instinctively wants to join the fight with the jedi because he owes them a great debt. not only did they raise him until he was fifteen, but they took him in---took anakin in when they needed them

but anakin has never had any loyalty to the jedi. he is loyal to his planet, which he will return to one day. and he is loyal to his family and to obi-wan, for saving him. but obi-wan should be loyal to him and him alone. only to the crown. only to anakin.

what im getting at is like. a scene where nineteen year old anakin demands obi-wan swear fealty to him as the king of his planet on the eve of the clone wars because he needs obi-wan to know that he's his. his captain. his guard. kneeling and ring kissing is involved.

obi-wan swearing fealty and then probably fucking anakin and then probably leaving during the night to fight in the clone wars without waking anakin is also involved.

[nicktoons-unite-incorrect-quotes]

SpongeBob: Imagine if someone handed you a box full of all the things you lost throughout your life

Danny: Oh wow, my childhood innocence! Thank you for finding this!

Timmy: I knew I lost that potential somewhere!

Jimmy: My moral code, is that you?

SpongeBob:

SpongeBob: I was just gonna show you this cool trunk my mom left me but do you guys need a hug?

[sosadraws]

You know how there's training(?) for dogs that it's pretty much exposing them to different stuff (say, people or vacumm cleaners) so they dont overreact when they encounter it, right?

Do you think Storch mentoring partially also works like that?

Their Star mentor gradually put them in stressful situations (like, idk, a really noisy working enviroment), so they don't lash out in the heat of the moment once they're actually working.

...or idk, I just feel that Storches would be the type to react agressively to fear or stress. I can see something like that being part of their training.

[lei-llustrations]

I can wholly believe this goofy liar man was probably secretly awake for this highly embarrassing confession lmfao…probably went “…?”

[gomzdrawfr]

Itching to dip my hands into a new AU for PriceRaven but no visions or ideas yet

[theunholyvirginemilyprentiss]

HENRY: What’s that?

EMILY: *sipping an Oreo milkshake* It’s spicy, you won’t like it.

(From Twitter)

[exephrine]

i dont draw ena enough

[shallowseeker]

What do you mean when you reference Dean's missing ultimatums

Oh, this was an idea generated from the lovely @somnatine talking about how the prayer scene in The Trap felt a bit unfairly weighted, and we were trying to suss out why.

They're not really ultimatums so much as they are an open discussion of needs. It's inside this monstrosity (I've grabbed a portion of it below)

But the gist is: Dean and Cas are having a coded, covert conversation through which Cas asks for several things he needs to be able to stay in the relationship:

(1) I need forgiveness. (2) I need you to try to be less angry with me. (3) I need you to ask me to stay.

Dean's prayer is about answering all these points.

But Dean doesn't get to verbalize his needs in the relationship, which would likely be things Cas can't do right now.

(Cas can't come clean about the deal, he can't promise to stay with Dean the way Dean wants him to. Lying to him now...Dean would see right through him. What he CAN do is use his strength. Thus, he takes on The Mark.)

From the monstrosity:

///

Do you still want me? Then, what do you need from me?

In Our Father Who Aren't in Heaven and The Trap, they're not trying to fix everything or even work through their grief about Jack yet. It's still too painful.

What they seem to be trying to puzzle out is, "Do you still want me?" Dean is bitter that Cas left when he still needed him, and Cas is bitter that Dean didn't verbalize wanting him. In this way, they do succeed in telling each other what they need.

Dean is signaling very strongly that he wants Cas to stay and work things out, and Cas is telling Dean his basic needs to be able to stay:

Cas tells Dean this: You didn't give me a choice. You couldn't forgive me. And you couldn't move on. You were too angry. I left, but you didn't stop me. (If you want me to stay, I need forgiveness. I need you to try to be less angry with me. I need you to ask me to stay.)

Given all that's happened between them, I think it's okay for Cas to communicate his needs and boundaries, regardless of what happened before. It's up to Dean whether or not the ask is something he's willing to give:

And when Dean says:

DEAN: I know you're sorry, Cas. About Bel, about Mom.

CAS: I was talking about Jack. I already apologized to you. You just refused to hear it.

It's also a covert conversation. Bel is the stand-in for Jack. Cas is saying, in no uncertain terms, that although Dean can't talk about it right now, they're going to have to talk about it. Cas needs to be able to talk about it.

Maybe not now, but later, in private, where it's quiet and unseen. They will be talking and grieving about Jack if Cas comes back to the partnership.

Those're the terms. (They're reasonable.)

Aside/// I think the interaction in The Gamblers hints that this indeed happened, later. I don't think this kind of easy acceptance of a soulless Jack back into their lives could happen in a conversationless vacuum:

GIF by shirtlesssammy

GIF by shirtlesssammy

GIF by shirtlesssammy

////

Renegotiating the relationship

Anyway, Dean's prayer is his acceptance of the relationship terms. He specifically answers all of Cas's requests. He tells Cas he should've stopped him from leaving. He wanted to stop him. He admits his own wrongs and part in the separation. He gives Cas the forgiveness he specifically asked for, he contextualizes his anger, and he says he's sorry (this last bit...is about Jack).

Now, the only issue with this apology is that it's not about Dean's terms in the relationship.

(That's okay, I think, because this part is about Cas. Dean's part would overload the prayer and take the focus off Cas, which is Dean's focus for this moment.)

But why are Dean's needs missing later?

And why does Cas cut him off?

Dean does want Cas to stay, and Cas gets that message pretty loud and clear, but Dean's other needs are missing. Dean's prayer is answering all of Cas's terms. I think that's what @somnatine means when they say that The Trap and Despair feel incomplete.

Dean starts to have his own say at the very end of The Trap, but Cas shuts it down.

It feels one-sided and incomplete. Why is that?

GIF by inacatastrophicmind

Because Cas is sidestepping Dean's terms.

He doesn't want to hear Dean's needs, because he instinctually is afraid the answer may be that Dean simply needs him. It's a callback to season 8, "Cas, I need you."

And now, because of the Empty deal, Dean can't have him.

Even the words of affirmation are unbearable and dangerous. Cas has to shut it down (script only):

DEAN: It's-- amazing. You did-- amazing.

CAS: They're still looking for me. We should hurry-- Cas trudges to the Rift. On Dean.

DEAN: Cas. I--

CAS: Dean. You don't have to.

Cas is now aware that they can be there for each other, but they can't have each other. All they can hope for right now is to simply be, not act.

The best Cas can do for Dean is to try to stay with Dean (it's the one thing Dean had actually asked in his renegotiation of their relationship).

All Cas can do is try to provide support through actions. So, Cas throws his weight and strength around as a stand-in for the emotional support he cannot give without triggering his deal.

((Aside/// I think it’s also important to consider that Cas’s emotional distance and lone-wolfism in s14 may have already been inflamed by the deal, handcuffing him emotionally from the start.))

So, Cas takes on the Mark:

Dean watches, nervous-- as Cas pulls out a knife.

DEAN: Cas, you sure? Cas solemnly nods-- cuts himself, bleeds into the bowl.

CAS: You've already taken the Mark. You can't take it again. I can. (then) It's the only way.

Cas is effectively saying, "I can't give you what you need, but let me do this for you."

///

So after all this, do they want to be together? Do they still want each other? Do they accept each other's renegotiated relationship terms?

After a trial separation, they find out the answer to those questions: they do.

That's all they managed to figure out in 15x09, really. Which is healthy; one step at a time. My conjecture is that even more conversations took place behind closed doors (above).

Next would come the actual grieving together part, which, if Chuck's future vision is to be believed, seemed to have gone okay in the Alt timeline for a little while...